Hi

Last week, I was in Lisbon for business and took the K-5 with DA*16-50 and DA*50-135 for some sightseeing. When taking the plane to Lisbon, I was not aware that the Volvo Ocean Race was having a stopover in Lisbon during my stay. Even if I was a bit short on the lens, this was a unique opportunity not to be missed and I managed to get accredited and was able to follow the race from the 1st row, on zodiacs for the press photographers.

I was a bit worried at first. Most of the photographers were preparing their equipment by adding protecting shelves around camera and lens. I was among the very rare photographers not having anything to protect the camera. Once on the water, it also became obvious, you are regularly splashed or sprayed with water during the whole time on the river. I have now also the confirmation, the water of the river in Lisbon is definitely already saltwater, after the race, I had salt cristals in the face and in the hair, and the camera felt a bit strange on the touch due to the layer of salt on it. The K-5 and lenses survived very well, I even ended up rinsing the equipment carefully under fresh water to get rid of the salt. Once back home, I gave the camera and lenses a better cleaning to make sure to not have any salt left especially on the metal parts such as the screws.

Well, here a few photos of the races:

1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


These and many more are also under Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 - Lisbon Photo Gallery by Dominique Schreckling at pbase.com

[gabro822]

Hi!
Those are beautiful shoth!! I like above all numbers 2 and 8!!

Regards
Gabriel

[cardinal43]

Very exciting, and fortunate for you that you could shoot it. It amazes me that these boats can be so far over when making turns. Looks like they are going to tip over. This also speaks well of the K-5 and your lenses. Thanks for sharing.

[Peter Zack]

Wow, what an opportunity! You captured these well and my favs would be 3,4 and 8 but they are all excellent. I just watched this race on last night and it was a great race, wild start and plenty of action. Beautiful spot to hold the races before they head out to sea for the last section.

It must be pretty amazing to see how fast these boats are in person. They were hitting 20 knots on the downwind legs. Good to hear the gear held up, Keep checking it over the next few weeks, salt can be about as bad as it gets on gear.

[Peter Zack]

Some fabulous stuff on the blog as well, even better than is posted here. I was hoping you got some shots of Sanya when her Code Zero got jammed and the crewmember had to go to the top of the mast to release the sail.

My favourite on the blog might be Lisbon In-Port Race photo - Dominique Schreckling photos at pbase.com but ths is cool as well with the square rigged naval ship under sail in the background. Volvo Ocean Race photo - Dominique Schreckling photos at pbase.com Probably the only shot where a longer lens would have been nice.

[Sailor]

Outstanding! The best sailing shots I can recall seeing on the forum over the several years I've been a member. Super job.

Jer

[tcom]

Thank you for all the comments.

@Peter: I was really lucky to get accredited and being able to follow the race from first row in one of the zodiacs for the press photographers. It is simply amazing to get so close to these boats, you do not only get a much better feel of their speed on the water, but also the whole sound ambiance. I gave yesterday evening a pretty deep cleaning of the used K-5 to hopefully remove the salt, especially from the screws. Glad you were following my gallery as well.

Unfortunately, I did not see the Sanya with the Code Zero jammed. These races are so fast, unless you are within the photo team of a given team, you try to follow the leader of the race, if you loose him, there is only little chance to make it up. Just as an example, we stopped a few times along the track to take photos when the boats passed the monuments of Lisbon, then we made it to the buoy where they turn and remained their for the first three teams. Then, even in full speed of the zodiacs (around 50-55 km/h given the waves), we were not able to make it up to the leader before the bridge (which is around half way of the leg).

Lessons learned would be to rather take the more versatile DA*60-250 instead of the DA*50-135 when heading for a city sightseeing, or inform myself much better about all what is happening at the destination during my stay to take the right equipment right away.

[tcom]

@Sailor: thank you! It does of course help when following the race from the press zodiacs. But it is nevertheless a stressfull moment to follow the action. When going on the boat, you are explained the track the race is going to take and you make up with the zodiac's driver from where you want to take your photos. In general, we had around 10-20 seconds to take the photos at one of the defined points, before going again full speed to the next point. The goal being to arrive a little bit in advance of the leader to prepare for the shot (and have the boat from the front).

[daacon]

Stunning shots all Dominque - as Jer said some of the best I have seen. Very cool to capture.

[tcom]

I have to say that I am pretty happy by the results. It was not only the very first time I was covering a sailing event, I was also using the equipment planned for city sightseeing. I was especially missing a longer lens and spending too much time sorting the photos as the 8GB card fills rapidly in such a race (and it was my one and only card for the trip).

[tcom]

For those following the race, I put online the press release of the last night as the teams where battling against a heavy storms between the Azores and France: Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12: Leg 8 Day 5, Screaming speeds for Volvo fleet as storm takes hold | IMPress